An Incubus Life - 163

Chapter 163

Sofiel, the archangel, was talking to Vida, and surprisingly, Vida was not agitated talking to an ice orc.  Then I realized she must be charmed by the angelic.  I thought Sofiel would have alerted everyone in the room and have them attack me when she realized I was a demon.  Instead, she continued her conversation with Vida and just kept me in her line of sight.

I moved Aurora, who was at the dessert table, and selected items to try by putting them directly into her mouth.  “Aurora, we have a problem,” I said, picking up some glazed meat on a stick.

Aurora looked around, not seeing anything. “Is there an enemy I need to be made aware of, Apollyon?”

“Vida is talking to the angelic who oversees the Sendings on the planet, and I am certain she has already unmasked my disguise. I may need you to help restrain her while I kill her.” I looked around the room, trying to judge other threats that I would need to take care of. “After I kill the angelic, get the others to safety.”

Aurora studied the ice orc talking to Vida. “Maybe we should try talking to her first? Maybe you could charm her, and if that doesn’t work, then you can stab her with your spear.” She had a grin, and I was having trouble figuring out the woman. It was like she was going to take as many pleasures in life as she could and was not concerned about dying. I admit that her unconcerned attitude and sense of humor was refreshing.

“Fine, I will try diplomacy. All I really want to do is get into the transit anyway. I think I got what we need from the Elder. Please back me up,” I told the ex-Inquisitor. She quickly loaded a plate and followed me across the room.

I approached the angelic and studied her core in my abyssal sight. It was only upper tier two. She was definitely a powerhouse on this planet, but not much to concern me. She watched my approach and smiled as I interrupted her conversation with Vida.

She opened the conversation, “Your concubine has so many nice things to say about you, demon.”

“I am sure. Vida, please go and check on Bedalia,” I ordered as I made eye contact with her and used my charming eyes and voice on her. Vida was charmed, as I had assumed, but it was not very strong. My own power overrode whatever the angelic did to her.

Vida smiled and nodded, “This is Sofiel.  She is very nice, and you should talk with her.” I patted her on the back and directed her towards Bedelia.

Aurora was at my back, eating off her plate, and she seemed amused. Sofiel studied Aurora and nodded to her, “So this is your pet, then?” My mind was confused until I realized that my core obfuscation device showed my core power at just 0.69 while Aurora was at 1.66. The angelic assumed I was a servant to Aurora. Being this close to the angelic, I guessed her core was around 1.9, maybe slightly stronger at 1.92.

I tried to use her confusion to our advantage, “Be more respectful when talking to my master!” I snapped just loud enough to keep my words from being overheard. The angel arched an eyebrow at Aurora, who was stuffing something that looked like a creampuff into her mouth.

Aurora talked with her mouth full, waving her hand at me, “You can talk to my Champion.”

“I am more curious about what two powerful human mages are doing here. Did you come by transit or starship?” Sofiel said calmly and confidently. Bedelia was lower tier two, and Aurora was upper tier two. It made sense that she could see through the guises and see their cores.

She looked between Aurora and me curious who would answer her. I offered, “We are looking for two humans. William and Eloise Cartwright.”

Her blank look told me that she was either a good actor or did not know Iris’ parents. It had been worth a shot. She studied me again and squinted her eyes some, “What type of demon are you?”

“The best kind,” I answered reflexively with a devilish smile.

She looked to Aurora, “Your pet’s lack of manners is starting to upset me. I think I have been very amicable. You are visiting my planet, I remind you—uninvited.”

Aurora looked at me and then at Sofiel and said, “Sorry. Maybe we could talk in private.”

Sofiel weighed her options. She wouldn’t be stupid enough to go with us somewhere. The, she said, “There is a private room just through those doors.” Okay, maybe she was that stupid. We followed her through the crowd, and everyone made way for her as she ranked highest in the orc society. Gundella moved to come with us, and I tried to wave her off, but she did not take my warning.

Gundella was in my ear, “Why are you going with the Supreme Spiritualist?” She sounded a little worried. I couldn’t ask her questions as to exactly what a Supreme Spiritualist was, but I assumed she just traveled from Pyramid to Pyramid and advised the clans.

The room had no windows and only a large table. The angelic closed the door and smiled, “I have spelled the door to not allow any sound out or in.” I think she thought she was blocking the door and had trapped us.

Gundella bowed, “Supreme, how can we assist you?”

Sofiel ignored the old orc and addressed Aurora, “Now you can either tell me why you are here, or I will disable your toy and force it out of you. Why is there a human mage with her cohort on Mercanious?”

Aurora looked at me, and I nodded. Her aetheric chains rippled out of her and attempted to bind Sofiel. Sofiel’s eyes went wide, and she tried to grab me as a hostage. She was shocked when I dodged her and used a judo throw, slamming her hard into the floor. She struggled, but I quickly got an armbar on her and had her pressed hard into the floor. She might be a powerful angelic, but she lacked common fighting knowledge.

Gundella was incredulous, “YOU CAN’T TOUCH THE SUPREME!!” She kneeled, “Forgive him. He is from the transits. He doesn’t know.” I was surprised Gundella was defending me, but I didn’t need it.

Sofiel struggled, but it was obvious she had almost no fighting skills. A sudden kinetic blast threw me into the ceiling. However, Sofiel was still pinned by Aurora’s layered aetheric chains. I landed softly, rubbing my head.

“That was not nice,” I said, straddling the angel’s hips. I squeezed my knees, and the next force blast had both of us rise a few feet off the ground before slamming back down. Our positions were unchanged this time.

Gundella was frantic now and did not know what to do. “Gundella sit!!” I yelled at her. “Aurora, restain the Matriarch.” Aurora sent some aetheric chains to bind her, happy to take her out of the chaotic equation.

Sofiel was cursing up a storm in a language that I assumed was angelic, and my translation charm was giving a colorful interpretation. “Calm down, Sofiel. This is the first time I have had the upper hand on an angelic. Last time I got my ass beat, and he let me go. I am inclined to do the same for you but have no reservations about killing you.”

“What in the abyss are you? You are not a tier-one demon!” Sofiel shrieked at me after she had struggled for more than a few minutes. Gundella’s jaw dropped when she called me a tier-one demon. Thankfully Aurora’s aether chains silenced her with a gag. If I needed Gundella, I could always charm her.

“No, you are right about that. I am not a tier-one demon. But I need some answers, and then my companions and I will be on our way. Will you cooperate?” I asked, feeling in complete control with Aurora’s restraints.

Sofiel had defiance in her eyes and did not speak. I sighed, flipped her over, and ordered Aurora, “Restrain her arms over her head and her ankles.” The angelic was soon immobilized but did not cast another force blast. I straddled her torso, and I tried to charm her with my voice and eyes. “Now, Sofiel. We are friends. There is no need to be so aggressive or upset. I just want some questions answered and then will disappear into the transit.”

Her core was too strong, and she resisted my efforts, squirming beneath me. “Go stick your bloody demon horns up your human mage’s ass!” She was sweating profusely beneath in her struggles and resistance. I guessed she was not very strong for an upper tier two angelic.

Aurora asked, “You have horns? Are they long enough to do what she said?”

I looked at Aurora, puzzled, and shook my head. Aurora had been trying to picture what the angelic had said and just blurted out what was on her mind. I needed to try to be more persuasive. What do Incubi do to persuade women? I activated my lust aura and spit my aphrodisiac in pretend anger as I spoke, “Damn it, woman! I just want some questions answered!”

I lowered my face to inches from hers and inhaled her scent. It was working. My saliva was upper tier two, and she would have trouble resisting it. I prepared a large amount and kissed her. She opened her mouth, and I foolishly thought she was succumbing to my lust. My tongue snaked between her lips, and she bit down hard, taking a half-inch off with her orc incisors.

Blood flowed freely for a short time, dripping onto her face. The wound closed, and I could feel my tongue regenerating slowly. Whyss dontss wess transforms intoss ourss naturalss formss?” I said as my tongue recovered.

I went first, shifting into my Caleb body. “That is not your true form, demon,” Sofiel stated tersely.

“It is. I was born a human and recently contracted to a higher demon. I confess I am a demon but this is who I see myself as,” I said sincerely.

The angelic considered and transformed into her golden hair human form, the blood on her face flacking away.  She had a large chest and looked to be in her early thirties by human standards.  I did not move off of her, my pelvis remained on hers. She did not seem evil.

“Why don’t we talk like normal beings, and you get off of me?” She asked, trying to use her own form of angelic charm on me. My strong core and defenses brushed aside her effort easily. She frowned. I could tell my lust aura, and saliva had an effect on her. She was aroused but had control of her faculties.

“I think we will remain as such until you answer all my questions truthfully,” I said. Gundella’s eyes were wider than anything as she saw two powerful beings interact. And yes, I considered myself powerful. I took a moment to charm the old orc.

“Gundella. We are friends. I want you to forget everything you saw and heard since entering this room. Close your eyes and do not listen further,” I ordered. My charm was a form of powerful hypnosis, so that should work. Charming her lower-tier one core was not difficult.

I turned my eyes to the angel trapped underneath me, “Now, have any humans been brought from Earth to here or the upper layers of Mercanius?” I questioned patiently.

The angel squirmed underneath me, and I was starting to find my dominant position slightly erotic. As a demon, the thought of dominating an angel was—appealing. She finally answered, “There are a few prisoners in Azerbahktum on the Southern continent, but they have been there for over two decades. I don’t know of any others. I rarely have communication with the Uppers.”

Aurora asked, “Are there any rumors of humans on the upper layers helping the angelics?”

Sofiel considered, “I heard a large battle in space occurred on a higher layer above this planet, but I do not think it was humans who attacked. I think Elves?” She sounded unsure.

I patted her head, “Good. This is much more productive. I might even reward you.” Aurora arched an eyebrow at me. I shrugged as I was just trying to play the good villain. “Do you know what layer the space battle occurred on?”

“No. It was not the 22nd or 21st, or I would have heard,” she answered. Shit, did that mean Andromeda was on the 20thlayer or higher? With her weak core, Iris could not go any higher than the 21st layer.

I looked at Aurora, “Go get the others.” I patted the angel, “No need to call for help when the door opens; we are going to leave you unharmed.”

Bedelia, Vida, and Iris joined us in the room, and Bedelia added her own silence spells to the door. They all looked confused, so I explained,

Vida looked confused, “A human woman was the Supreme Spiritualist?”

“No, she is an angelic. She supervises the sendings of the young orcs to Earth and Everhome,” I replied. “She also had news about Andromeda on the higher layers. “Can you change the Sending to Earth instead of Everhome?” I asked Sofeil nicely.

“There is no scheduled connection to Earth. They will not be ready to receive them,” she replied smoothly.

“Receive them?” I questioned harshly, “The orcs you send to Earth are intercepted and killed by bounty hunters to raise the status on Magus Arcanum on Earth. To my knowledge, none survive.”

Sofiel looked confused at my words, but I think she believed me. Bedelia stood over her head, straddling her arms, and kneeled to look the angel in the eye. “Have you asked the angel if they are working to destroy the transits?”

“Answer her. Are you working to destroy the transits?” I squeezed her ribs with my knees.

“No, we are not trying to destroy the transits,” Sofeil said softly. She knew what they were trying to do from her tone, though.

“So, what are you trying to accomplish with the Pyramids on the three different planets?” I asked, hoping for some answers.

She seemed reluctant to answer but did, “We are trying to open a permanent World Gate between the three planets!” Sofiel mumbled.

“Can you hold her for a while?” I asked Aurora. Aurora nodded and added layers to her aether chains. When I was satisfied, I slipped into my mind space. I found Lilith, Pandora, and Nashima working on the books in the library. They had a video for the outside world, so they knew I was coming and understood what was happening.

Lilith shook her head, “It is too early. I can not give you answers. If you wait here and give me more time…”

“Five hours,” I said, giving a time limit. About five minutes would pass in the real world for the five hours inside the mind space. Lilith didn’t look confident but continued to work on the books I had just given her.

Even after studying the books for five hours, they did not have answers from me. Lilith looked lost, “Caleb, it looks like she is telling the truth. The Pyramids are trying to link the three planets. But it just does not feel right. There might still be some missing data, but it says these are all the books in the collection.”

Nashima supplied, “My ancestral knowledge of layer and transit physics is not very strong, but I agree. I think they are making too many assumptions about creating these World Bridges to make a permanent World Gate. The power has to come from somewhere.”

Pandora, of all people, asked, “What if they established these World Bridges and drained all the aether from the Source?”

Lilith’s eyes went wide, “That is what I missed!! The math is for one World Bridge!! If the World Bridges were from Earth to Everhome, Mercanious to Everhome and Earth to Mercanious, then the aether would be drained too fast, and then the stability of the transits would be in question.” She grabbed a book and paged through it. “It looks like they accounted for that, but they are assuming only one transit access will remain functional after the permanent Bridge is established.”

Nashima seemed skeptical. “The higher layer transits are capable of transmitting large amounts of aether down the layers. Maybe these lower layer transits are not mature enough to handle the load?” Lilith nodded in agreement.

“Okay, English, please,” I requested.

Lilith thought for a moment, “The higher layers transits carry more aether and have done so for longer. They are conditioned for it. In order to power these World Gates, they plan to draw on the aether directly from the transits by keeping portals to the transits open. They are going to burn out the transits by drawing too much aether with multiple World Gates, even though their math says it is feasible. It would work if they just had one World Gate between two planets.”

Nashima finished Lilith’s explanation, “They will succeed in establishing the bridge according to the texts, but because they redirected too many threads to two different planets, the flow of aether will burn out all the transit threads connecting all three planets to the Source.”

“So they will succeed in cutting the planets off from the Source?” I confirmed.

Lilith nodded, “Yes, I think that will be the eventual outcome. I would say I am 66%% certain, maybe 60%.”

I nodded, “Thank you all for your work.” I returned and had been gone six minutes.

I focused again on Sofiel under me. I was surprised when her defenses had worn away, and my charm was taking hold. I studied the charm and its hold on her. It felt tenuous at best, but I could use it. “So, they lied to you. Establishing your World Bridge to two different planets at the same time will burn out the transit and cut all three planets from the Source at the same time.” Maybe my mind space construct hypothesis was wrong, but I confidently delivered it.

Sofiel’s eyes went wide, “You read all the manuals? That is why you were with Ergoth. The fool should have kept them hidden,” she sounded surprised.

“That is all you have to say for yourself? You will kill billions of people.” I stood and explained to everyone present, “The Angelics control three planets. They are manipulating the populations of all three planets to…” I paused, thinking. “To remove their access from the higher layers by destroying the transits. I don’t know to what end.”

Sofiel rasped in defense of her people, “It will work. The World Bridges will be self-sustaining and will not need aether from the Source!”

“Do you know what happens when a planet is cut off from the Source? I have been told by a powerful mage who experienced it. All life ceases to exist after a time. The planet becomes a wasteland.” At least, that is what Rincewind told me. I watched my control over Sofiel steady some as I was reinforcing it with the truth.

I stood and looked at Aurora, “Release her.”

Aurora’s eyebrow went up. She shrugged and released her aetheric chains. “Put back on your disguise,” I suggested to Sofiel. Sofiel stood and resumed her ice orc disguise. I ended my lust aura as it was having an effect on everyone in the room and returned to my orc Champion body.

Sofiel tried again, this time not as confident, “You are wrong. The Uppers would not kill billions of people. The plan is to create a Trinity of planets for trading and travel across this galaxy on the 23rdlayer.”

I looked over the angel and commanded, “Change the Sending to Earth. Vida and Iris are going home.”  My hold on her held.

Sofiel looked compliant, Vida looked angry, and Iris was confused. I looked to Iris apologetically, “Andromeda is on the higher layers. Your core is not strong enough to survive there. You can not come; this is the best chance to get you home. I am going to continue searching for your parents as I travel with Bedelia and Aurora to find Andromeda.”

Bedelia asked, “What makes you think she will cooperate.” She motioned to Sofiel.

I looked at Sofiel, “She will see the truth of what the Uppers, you call them, are doing. You have a mind space?” Sofiel nodded. “Check the equations when you load a transit with Two World Gates.”

Her mind space was just upper tier two, and her time dilation was not as strong as mine. We waited nearly an hour for her to return. And I realized I might have made a mistake sending her to her to converse with her mind constructs. Maybe they would help her break my fragile hold on Sofiel. Someone knocked on the door, and we stalled for time. I was hoping Sofiel was a rational angel. She did not strike me as the murder hobo type. Maybe I would not have to keep my hold on her anyway.

She finally returned from working with her two constructs in her mind space, and my sway over her appeared intact. Sofiel was still unsure of herself, “They didn’t account for Two Bridges, but that does not mean it still will not work. There is no premise for this…”

I stopped her, “Are you kidding? The powerful angelics have been experimenting for hundreds of thousands of years. They know exactly what will happen when they do this!”

It took some time to convince Sofiel to switch the Sending to Earth. Her contacts on Earth would not be happy when a surprise transit was open. I smiled, “We are not going to tell them anything. I only want to send Vida and Iris anyway for their safety. You can make an excuse and delay the sending of the young orcs.”

“They must be sent…” Sofiel started.

“No, they need more training,” I said, smiling. “Tell the Fiery Snow clan exactly that.” Sofiel reluctantly agreed. I spent time with Iris, relaying everything Lilith had learned. She could take the information back to Rincewind.

I charmed Gundella to forget about what she observed. I implanted the memory that I was going into transit but would eventually be back to check on Tevega’s progress as a warrior. She assured me Tevega would work hard day and night to earn my approval.  And she hoped to have Tevega’s first child by the time I returned. There was no chance of that, but I just nodded in appreciation.

The Fiery Snow clan was surprised, but they quickly made adjustments to the keystone to connect to Earth instead of Everhome for the evening opening of the World Gate. With only two people going through, they were extremely confused.  Thankfully, the Spiritual Supreme was apparently not to be questioned. She informed them the young orcs would have to wait till the next charge of the Pyramid to go to Everhome; there was only a slight pushback.

Sending Vida and Iris home had a massive ceremony before the activation. I was distracted, waiting for something to go wrong, but it progressed smoothly. When the black keystone started cycling pictures of Earth in its faces, I longed to return with them. We had only been gone four days, but it already felt like months. I whispered to Iris, “Tell my family I love them.” She nodded as she stepped through with Vida into a wooded glade at twilight in what looked like spring. The trees had leaves, which meant they were not going to Virginia when they stepped through. I hope they did not have trouble getting home.

Now, I needed to set up a trip to the transit city for Bedelia, Aurora, and myself. This meant Sofiel having the Fiery Snow clan move the dissipator at the peak of the Pyramid to let the transit line reach the bottom chamber so I could open a portal. This whole process of moving the dissipator would take a day as it was dangerous. I had no choice but to stay another night with the Whispering Rock Clan.

We ate dinner at the Castle, and Gundella was insistent on sending warriors with me into the transit.  I knew she wanted to keep an eye on me while I was gone, and she had the perfect pair of trained guards, Sharn and her daughter Glasha. They were experienced fighters and loyal to the Whispering Rock Clan. I was not as certain on either point. In preparation for my delve into the transit I asked to be left alone with Aurora and Bedelia. Gudella was happy to do so because she thought I had given her daughter a child.

When we were alone in the room, Bedelia said talking was safe. So far, it felt like we had made progress but not gotten any where in our search.